A Woman’s Place is at Johns Manville, says Roofing Systems Sales Leader

From the outside in, some might assume that the building products industry is a man’s world. 

That might have historically been the case, but it’s not true anymore, says Johns Manville’s Megan Keyes.

The Roofing Systems Preferred Accounts Leader says women are more present and welcome in the industry. 

“The hesitancy (of women to seek employment) in sales and sales in the building products industry is fading,” Keyes said. 

Keyes joined Johns Manville in 2003 and, five years ago, was promoted to her current position, part of which includes supervising a team of eight. Six of those employees are women. 

As her team developed and expanded, Keyes said it was important to her to maintain an active role in building out the team’s network and influence in the industry. 

“I wanted to be involved to better understand which strategies worked best and to keep my team motivated to perform,” she said.

While Keyes believes being a female hiring manager has somewhat helped her lower the barrier of entry for women applying to work on her team, she says that’s not the only reason her team’s majority composition is women. 

She’s had remarkable success recruiting women into sales roles in the industry thanks to several intentional efforts.

Keyes credits Johns Manville recruiter Megan Adams with helping ensure that the candidate pool for her positions includes as much diversity as possible. Megan Keyes has also taken the initiative to help round out that pool herself.

“I’ve employed a broader networking strategy that works for me, “she said of her hiring process. 

Serving as her own “boots on the ground,” she has personally attended trade shows, conferences and conventions, networking and meeting face-to-face with potential candidates and others in the industry.

“Women in the industry have seen me and gotten to know me outside of my manager/employer role,” she explained. “They have approached me expressing interest in joining the team even before I had open positions to fill.” 

When opportunities came up, “they were top of my mind,” Keyes said. 

Because Johns Manville is a trusted brand, Keyes can focus on “selling” available positions rather than simultaneously selling candidates on the job and the product, she said.

“JM stands on its own in our industry,” she said. “Because it’s a great brand name and I don’t have to educate about the company. I can focus instead on finding the right fit for my team.”

Once employees have been onboarded, the group works well together, benefitting from the broadened and more diverse outlook and skillset brought to the team by an increased number of women, Keyes said.

“Sales is a skill, not a script,” she said. “They appreciate that everyone has different strengths, processes and perspectives.”

That means additional areas of opportunity, Keyes added.

“More of our customers are women, too,” she noted. “There are more female decision-makers in the industry.”

Whether hiring managers are male or female, the women on Keyes’ team value direct feedback and call out microaggressions as barriers to productivity and creativity, she said. Additionally, teamwork is the difference between good and great organizations, she added.

“I find that the camaraderie and the support of one another have created a dynamic team that is less focused on individual credit and more focused on winning as a team,” Keyes said. “In my opinion, women bring compassion to sales, and because generally, they listen to the customers’ concerns, they are able to accurately identify the customer’s need and then tailor the solution.”